MAVEN: Status Update: Dec. 4, 2013

Liftoff of MAVEN

The United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket lifts off from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station carrying the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution, or MAVEN, spacecraft on a 10-month journey to the Red Planet. Liftoff was at 1:28 p.m. EST.

The Neutral Gas and Ion Mass (NGIMS) initial activation occurred at approximately 10:18 a.m. EST this morning. Checkout began with Main Electronics Box, telemetry was as expected. Subsequently, the Quadrupole Mass Spectrometer (QMS) was initiated. QMS spectra were plotted and showed the expected levels of noble gases inside the QMS sensor.

Upon the spacecraft's arrival at Mars, the instrument will study the planet's fragile upper atmosphere, examining its composition and determining how quickly some of the gases are escaping into space over time. This information will help scientists understand the current state of the Martian upper atmosphere, how it looked billions of years ago, and how most of it has been lost.

MAVEN's principal investigator is based University of Colorado Boulder's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics in Boulder, Colo. The university provided science instruments and leads science operations, as well as education and public outreach, for the mission. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md., manages the project and provided two of the science instruments for the mission. Lockheed Martin built the spacecraft and is responsible for mission operations. The University of California at Berkeley's Space Sciences Laboratory provided science instruments for the mission. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., provides navigation support, Deep Space Network support, and Electra telecommunications relay hardware and operations.